Louisiana could soon legalized sports gambling if the state’s governor has his way. Governor John Bel Edwards has publicly given his support for the activity, adding that revenue from sports wagers would be tagged for use in boosting early childhood education.

In speaking at a meeting of the Baton Rouge Press Club, Edwards stated, “I want to be in a position to actually do [sports gambling] in Louisiana because we know it is happening in Mississippi.” He asserted that allowing the sports gambling industry to flourish at the state’s casinos would make them competitive “so that the rest of their gaming isn’t diminished by the fact that patrons skip our casinos in order to go, for example, to Mississippi.”

Mississippi neighbors Louisiana, giving residents in the latter state a close option to fulfill their sports gambling fix. Mississippi introduced sports gambling last August, becoming one of the first seven states to approve the activity after the U.S. Supreme Court reversed the Professional and Amateur Sports Act (PASPA) in May of last year. Another Louisiana neighbor, Arkansas, saw its residents approve sports gambling in last November’s elections.

If Louisiana state lawmakers approve sports wagers, it still might take some time before the activity is introduced. Once those legislators sign off on any bill, Edwards would have to give the green light and then each parish in the state would be given the right to determine, most likely through a vote, if the activity should be allowed in their districts.

The city council in Washington, D.C. has applied the brakes to its sports gambling legislation. The council decided yesterday to postpone a decision on a measure to allow competitive bidding for management of the city’s expansion into sports bets. It explained that it wants to give the community more time to provide feedback on the issue before making its ruling.

The concern centers on the possibility that the council would choose an entity to manage the activity, instead of letting companies bid for the rights to the contract. Typically in the U.S., any government contract has to be open to bidding in an effort to ensure that there isn’t any shady or under-the-table deals made.

According to the council member for D.C.’s Ward 3, Mary M. Cheh, “We would lose some months … [but] we would at least have it out there in the open and have a hearing.” Her position was supported by Ward 1’s representative, Brianne K. Nadeau, who said that it would be a bad idea to handle any sports gambling proposal as an emergency bill that doesn’t require a public hearing. She asserted, “I’ve just not seen anyone demonstrate that this is an emergency situation.”

D.C. officials approved sports gambling last month. In doing so, it became the first jurisdiction in the Washington area to give the green light to the activity. It is now joined by seven other jurisdictions, in addition to Nevada, to allow gambling on professional sports games. Two other areas tied to Washington – Maryland and Virginia – have not yet approved their entrance into the industry, which means D.C. will be the first to make the cash grab.

A new light rail transit (LRT) system being constructed in Macau is underway. The city’s government announced yesterday that the section connecting Taipa with Cotai is on track and is expected to be operational sometime during the second half of this year, giving locals and visitors to the gambling mecca an alternative to being stuck in traffic in their personal vehicles.

According to Macau’s Transportation Infrastructure Office (TIO), the Taipa-Cotai section is currently being tested for operational integrity. This section will include several stops along its route to serve casinos in Cotai and will span a stretch of 5.8 miles. It will include 11 stations, including stops for the Macau International Airport and the Taipa Ferry Terminal, which is located close to the airport.

The TIO further divulged that the Barra station, located on the Macau peninsula, should be complete by 2024. This will be the first stop that connects the peninsular section of the LRT to the Taipa-Cotai span and will make use of the Sai Van Bridge. The schedule for the remainder of the LRT in the peninsula has not yet been released.

An upcoming section, the Seac Pai Van section, will be completed via a public tender that is scheduled for the first quarter of 2019. Seac Pai Van is located between Coloane and Cotai.

A junket operator out of Macau is making moves to expand its operations. The Guangdong Group told GGRAsia that it is going to offer its VIP gaming service to Naga 2, the latest addition to the NagaWorld Complex in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. That project is promoted by NagaCorp. Ltd out of Hong Kong.

According to GGRAsia, Guangdong indicated that it expects to launch a trial stage of its new operations sometime this month. The service is expected to be run through a partnership with additional investors and will offer ten gaming tables.

The junket operator has 13 VIP gaming clubs in Macau and has been leading a charge to expand internationally. The company’s CEO, Flora Pu, adds, “The group’s services have been expanded to Philippines, Jeju, Cambodia, U.S., U.K. and other destinations in the Asia-Pacific region and Europe. We will continue to actively explore further potential partnerships with casino operators and collaborators in a bid to enhance the proportion of earnings from overseas markets for the group.”

NagaCorp is the only license holder that offers casinos in or around Phnom Penh. Its NagaWorld property, which is now called Naga 1, opened in 2006 and Naga 2, the most recent addition, opened in November of last year.

South Koreans hoping for a reputable casino that can serve them locally have had slim pickings. Kangwon Land, the only casino operator licensed to accept local bettors, just saw one of its former executives sentenced to prison for unfair staff-hiring practices.

Local news reports Choi Hung-jib, the former CEO of Kangwon Land Co, was delivered his sentence on January 8 by the Chuncheon District Court. He was found guilty of ordering his team to favor candidates who were connected to famous politicians.

This sentencing stems from a December 2017 arrest of the ex-CEO. At the time, the casino called the scandal “a thing of the past.” This sentencing, and the investigation of the corruption, will keep it fresh in the minds of the public.

The case is far reaching, with two politicians also accused of pressuring the operator to hire friends and family members, and providing bureaucratic assistance in return. Two more Kangwon Land officials are already serving prison terms for similar crimes.

3: Barrels from the land of partypoker including Mikita Badziakouski wearing a patch at the PokerStars Player’s No-Limit Hold’em Championship, a partnership with the former One Direction star, Liam Payne, and a Grand Prix win for Bryan Nicholson.

There’s more than one online poker company operating in the world this week. Here are three tales from the face of partypoker, weaved together to make an almost perfect unibrow.

We start with Mikita Badziakouski, who is currently one of the hottest, and most experienced players left in the $25,000 buy-in PokerStars Player’s No-Limit Hold’em Championship (PSPC).

The Belarusian is wearing a partypoker patch, and word on Marvin’s grapevine is that Badziakouski is going to be the first new poker ambassador of 2019, with partypoker fortunate enough to snag his signature.

The U.S. District Court in Portland, Maine sentenced a 62-year-old man to prison for running a multimillion-dollar gambling operation.

According to the Portland Press Herald, Stephen Mardigan had run the operation from 2003 until April 2017, when federal investigators confiscated $850,000 in cash and jewelry from him and three others.

Last May, he plead guilty to the charges of running the gambling business, money laundering, and misdeclaring information in his used car company’s income tax return.

Mardigan had supposedly faced 20 years in prison for the money laundering charge alone, but Chief Judge Jon Levy said that federal guidelines and mitigating factors reduced this considerably. The federal prosecutor wanted Mardigan to serve 21 months, while the defense requested merely probation.

The PokerStars Player’s No-Limit Hold’em Championship flies through Day 3 like a bullet through the temple with Scott Baumstein leading the final 38-players and a whole host of stars waiting in the wings to trip him up.

It’s easy to make a mistake as a poker writer.

Isaac Haxton looks a lot like Isaac Hayes, and when the theme from Shaft gets into your head, the Super High Roller Bowl V winner doesn’t stand a chance.

In 2017, during the deep end of the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event, when Scott Blumstein was pushing everyone into a one way elevator to Level Rail, I was so sure it was Scott Baumstein, I began to feel sorry for him when I realised the truth.